Constellations
by slightlysickpsycho
Summary: Luna has always found the night sky oddly comforting. Ginny wonders where Luna goes at night. Sweet Luna/Ginny one shot.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Harry Potter books.

Luna shivers, pulling her cloak tighter over bare shoulders. Since she started Hogwarts, she rarely sleeps at night, even when she's at home. She'd much rather spend her time where she is now, at the top of an abandoned Astronomy tower. The first time she came here was during first year. The crisp night air had bitten into tearstained cheeks until her face felt like ice, but she had been too fascinated by the constellations to leave. Even if the night hadn't left her so captivated, it was good to be away from the ridicule of her classmates.

She's never been very good at Astronomy, much to the surprise of those who notice the ravenous way she stares at the night sky. It's not a lack of love for the sparkling of the stars; far from it. Luna, whose bright and unconventional mind delights most of the teachers, can only see her own constellations. Near the northeastern horizon, for example, is the first cluster of stars she noticed, the one that matches the freckles on Ginny Weasley's left cheek.

Luna smiles, but this is nothing like the dreamy, vacant mask she uses to distance herself from the viciousness s she faces when others are around. It spreads slowly over the pale faces glowing in the starlight, blossoming like a sunrise, bright and full of longing.

She tilts her face upward, and here she sees the Back of Ginny's Neck, the lovely sprinkling of dots that peek out when burning copper strands are tied back in two braids.

Luna turns slightly, looking at Ginny's Left Knee, first discovered in third year, as the redhead's feet swung, back and forth, back and forth. Luna remembers watching her daydreaming in Charms that day, chewing absentmindedly on the end of her quill.

Now she sees Ginny's Upper Thigh, a breathtaking arrangement found on a sweltering summer day in the woods between their houses, when a cotton skirt rode up just a little too high. They were sitting in a patch of shade by the stream where they would read together when it was too hot for them to do anything else. Ginny devoured her book quickly, amber eyes racing over the words, desperate to discover how the story would unfold. Luna could read quickly, but she liked to contemplate each sentence, to savor the prose. Of course, she barely made it a few pages that day, with the way her eyes kept wandering along inadvertently exposed flesh.

Few have ever seen this particular smile on Luna's face. The happiness she feels now is one she shares only with the night sky. One day, she hopes, she'll be able to share it with another person. Every muscle in her body tenses when she hears someone moving up the dusty steps that have known only the shape of her own feet in a very long time. She doesn't turn to face the person who is now approaching her, but her dreamy mask shifts into place, clouding the apprehension in her eyes.

"Luna, are you alright?" An aching sadness fills her at the sound of Ginny's voice, and she almost wishes the footsteps she heard had belonged to someone else.

"Yes, just enjoying the stars."

"The other girls say you never sleep at night." Amber eyes sparkle with determination.

"You know they're exaggerating." her tone is conversational, but her heart is racing. "I doubt I could survive without sleep."

"Why aren't you in bed now?"

"It's rare to see the sky so clear."

"Harry let me borrow his map, Luna."

"That was nice of him."

"I know you can keep a secret." Their bodies are drifting closer together as they talk. Luna nods. "He owns a very special map."

"Oh?" The soft voice betrays no awareness of the building tension.

"It's a map of Hogwarts, a map that lets him see where everyone in the castle is at a given time."

"Is that how you found me?" She tries not to sound too interested.

"Why are you hiding?"

"I'm simply looking at the sky."

That captivating temper flares. "Luna, why didn't you tell anyone it was so bad?"

"It isn't."

"You should be in bed."

"Acting as though they bother me would only draw more attention." Luna fights back tears. She doesn't want anyone to see how much of her confidence has eroded over the years. Not even her best friend.

"You could have told me, at least. We would have found a way to stop them."

"It'd be a shame to stay inside on such a lovely night." Soft blue eyes stray to the twinkling specks in the vacant darkness that look just like the freckles on Ginny's right shoulder, and fondly remembers a certain blue tank top on another summer day.

"Look at me, Luna." Warm hands cradle Luna's face, forcing her to meet Ginny's intimidating gaze. "The way they treat you is wrong."

Luna shrugs. "I think there are more important injustices to worry about in our world."

"Not to me." The firmness of the statement makes Luna's stomach feel light, perhaps, she thinks idly, full of flittertips.

"Thank you, Ginny. You're terribly kind."

"Stop!"

"Stop what?"

"Acting like you don't have feelings, like the way they treat you doesn't hurt, like nothing the people do around you can touch you!"

Luna can't stop the tears any longer, even as her face holds the smile that keeps everyone out of her mind. Ginny's warm arms wrap around her, making her feel safer than she has since her mother's accident, since the terrible day she so rarely allows herself to remember. Luna's pulls away just enough to look at Ginny's face, and her fingers brush gently over the first of the constellations that have comforted her over the years.

Ginny's breathing hitches, and awareness blossoms between them. The kiss they share is fierce and tender, familiar and magical, loving and desperate, all at the same time. They pause for a moment, giving one another the chance to pull away.

Warmth spreads through Ginny's body when Luna's face breaks into the smile that haunts her dreams, sparkling and aware and unabashedly joyful.

Tonight Luna will discover uncharted constellations.


End file.
